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Notes

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Although many of William Scott’s paintings were still lifes, this work is from a period when all recognisable forms had disappeared into pure abstraction. His concern, however, was still ‘the division of spaces and forms; these must be made to move and be animated like living matter’. He was also interested in the texture of paint – thin, thick, scratched – and disliked a smooth finish. There is a subtle ambiguity of space and depth and the shapes seem to float upon the canvas.